Black Collar Crime Round-Up: November 18, 2010
Carl “Carlie” Ekamrank • Dennis Jackson
Marcus Ondiegi • John Polletta • Robert Timchak
Tommy Shelton • Samuel “Samee” Solanky
Because we could spend 24/7 tracking the sins of right-wing religionists (especially “youth pastors”) and never get caught up. Of the following, the more interesting cases will probably end up with their very own Conservative Babylon entries.
Indicted: Johnny William “Bill” Cabe, 50, pastor, Riverside Independent Baptist Church, Rock Hill, South Carolina, and convicted felon who served seven years in prison for bilking “religious investors” out of $8 million, on felony charges of sexual abuse of an 11-year-old boy (contributing to the delinquency of a minor and committing a lewd act on a child under 16). This is the third time Cabe has been up on child sexual-abuse charges. Story: Conservative Babylon, August 26, 2010; Herald Online, November 13, 2010
Under further investigation: Robert Dando, 46, former minister, Worcester Park Baptist Church, London, England; former minister, Orchard Baptist Fellowship, Bicester; former governor, Kings Meadow School, Bicester; and former official at both Baptist World Alliance and the Boys’ Brigade. Dando was found guilty this month of four counts of aggravated sexual battery against two boys in the U.S., and is due for sentencing January 28, 2011. “Fairfax County [Virginia] prosecutors have also revealed Dando admitted when under questioning to touching young boys in the United Kingdom. A Thames Valley Police spokesman said: ‘Thames Valley Police are currently following a number of leads and inquiries relating to child protection issues involving Robert Dando that have occurred in the UK.’” Story: Conservative Babylon, September 1, 2010, November 6, 2010; Bicester Advertiser, November 11, 2010
Guilty: Carl “Carlie” Ekamrank, 52, pastor, Moravian Church in Alaska (an evangelical Protestant denomination with roots in 15th-century Bohemia [Czech Republic] and “a strong presence in the Kuskokwim region in Southwest Alaska”), Bethel, Alaska, and president of the church’s Alaska Provincial Board, of one count of second-degree sexual abuse of a a 12-year-old girl. Ekamrank copped a plea; he had originally been charged with five felony counts. “If the judge accepts the terms in a hearing scheduled for early next year, Ekamrak could receive five years in prison and a probationary period of up to 10 years.” Story: Tundra Drums, July 15, 2010, November 13, 2010
Convicted: Dennis Jackson, 68, former coach, Riverside Christian School, Lost Creek, Kentucky, on nine counts of sexual abuse committed against an unspecified number of young boys, at least one under the age of 12. The mission of Riverside Christian School (which, incidentally, received $100,000 from the public well in 2010) is “to lead each student to Christ, to educate its students for meaningful Christian life and service, to guide them into a positive Christian philosophy of life.” Story: WKYT, November 12, 2010
Sentenced: Marcus Ondiegi, 47 or 52 (depending on the source), pastor, Nyakwatha, Kenya, to 50 years, for defiling an 11-year-old orphan and infecting her with HIV. Ondiegi “visited the home of the minor’s, grandmother Salome Mwangi and told her that the girl needed special prayers for he (accused) had foreseen that the child was likely to become insane” “if special prayers were not offered to ward off the hovering bad spirits that were to attack her” The grandmother “consented to his request and allowed the girl to accompany him to his house” for a “one-week special prayer session,” and even gave him traveling money. The child testified that Ondiegi kept her locked in his house, going about his daily routine and coming back at night to rape her “repeatedly for six consecutive days” before she escaped. Story: African Press International, November 18, 2010; The Standard, November 18, 2010
Charged: John Polletta, 56, schoolteacher and former organist, St. George Catholic Church, Guilford, Connecticut, with fifth-degree larceny for stealing $650 from the collection plates. Church employees and other parishioners — who suspect Polletta of stealing from the church since 2003 — instigated their own investigation, whereby they “placed marked bills into the collection baskets which were not in the baskets when the money was later counted.” That’s when pastor James Shanley hired a private investigator, who placed surveillance cameras in the church during Mass, after which the church accountant and her husband “discovered two recordings” of Polletta “taking money from the collection bags. Polletta was confronted by Father Shanely … and in a recorded conversation he confessed to taking the money.” 
Furthermore, the accountant believes former pastor Lawrence Symolon, 61 (now at Holy Angels Church in South Meriden since August, 2010), who “became upset with her” for going to him about the thefts, “was complicit” in Polletta’s thievery, noting that Symolon had brought Polletta, “a very close friend,” to St. George “from his previous parish in West Haven.” Ironically, Polletta, a fifth-grade teacher at Laurel Ledge School, Beacon Falls, was awarded “Region 16 Teacher of the Year” in 2009. “Polletta, a resident of North Haven, builds his classroom interactions and expectations on what he calls ‘the six pillars of character’ — citizenship, caring, responsibility, respect, trustworthiness and fairness.” Also in 2009, Polletta’s class presented Ronald McDonald House of Connectcut with a check for $1,500 “towards the newly established John Polletta Transportation Fund.” Ronald McDonald House praised Polletta as “one of those teachers that the fifth grade class and their parents will remember for a lifetime” who “has truly taught them the concept of pay it forward.” Story: John Polletta arrest warrant, October 29, 2010; New Haven Register, November 18, 2010
Plea deal rejected: Tommy Shelton, 64, former pastor, Community Church of God, Dunn Loring, Virginia, charged with two counts of aggravated sexual battery, two counts of indecent liberties with a minor and sodomy. In 2008, two men reported sexual abuse by Shelton when one, now 29, was between 12 and 14 years old, and the other, now 24, when he was between 8 and 9. “Shelton was previously accused by church members of molesting boys at a church where he was the pastor in Illinois in the 1980s. He was not charged because of the statute of limitations in that state, church members said. There is no statute of limitations on such crimes in Virginia.” “Following the allegations of Brad Dunning and three other boys,” Shelton’s “ordination with the Church of God (Anderson) was suspended in 1985.” In July, 2010, Shelton pleaded guilty to two felony counts of taking indecent liberties with a child under his supervision in exchange for probation and no jail time. Prosecutors and victims alike agreed with the deal; however, in November, citing Shelton’s lack of remorse, “Fairfax County Judge Randy Bellows said Tommy Shelton deserved jail time so he denied the ex-pastor’s plea deal which only called for probation.” Story: 1985 Illinois Ministerial Credential Committee Letter, October 25, 1985; Washington Post, March 19, 2010, May 7, 2010, July 20, 2010, November 16, 2010
Sentenced: Samuel “Samee” Solanky, 63, pastor, Bethany Mission Center, New York, and televangelist who aired the program “Vandana” on the South Asian Gospel Network, to 57 months, plus restitution, for bilking investors in a nonexistent jewelry business out of some $3 million. According to his 2009 indictment, “Solanky used religious organizations with which he was associated to solicit victims to invest in his purported jewelry business. In both conversations and written communications, Solanky told numerous victims that he would use their investments to purchase gem stones in India that would be sold to jewelers in the United States. Solanky promised victims that they would receive 100% returns on their investments within a matter of months. In fact, Solanky did not operate a jewelry business but rather diverted the victims’ money for his own use. While Solanky made several payments to some of the victims in order to induce them to invest additional funds with him, the majority of the victims received no money at all from Solanky; they never received returns on their investments and they never received refunds of their investments. Some victims received checks that did not clear because there were insufficient funds in the accounts on which the checks were drawn, as well as checks as to which Solanky stopped payment.” Story: U.S. Attorney, Southern District of New York, August 18, 2009; Times Herald-Record, November 18, 2010
Sentenced: Robert Timchak, a.k.a. “Father Bob,” 43, pastor, Parish Community of Transfiguration and Ss. Peter and Paul, West Hazleton, Pennsylvania, to six months to six years, after pleading guilty “in August of 17 counts of sexual abuse of children, criminal use of a communication facility and tampering with physical evidence. … Police uncovered 17 images of child pornography on [Timchack's] computer. The average age of the children in the pictures was 11-1/2, police say.” Story: Conservative Babylon, October 22, 2009; Times Herald-Record, November 17, 2010
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